Africa|A Former Commander of Liberian Rebels Is Arrested in Switzerland

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A Former Commander of Liberian Rebels Is Arrested in Switzerland

By Clair MacDougall

Jan. 16, 2015

MONROVIA, Liberia — The Swiss authorities have arrested a former commander of a Liberian rebel military faction who is accused of ordering civilian massacres, rapes and other atrocities in northern Liberia during the nation’s first civil war from 1989 to 1996.

The arrest was reported this week on the website of Civitas Maxima, a network of international lawyers and investigators.

The former commander, Alieu Kosiah, of the military faction United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy, known as ULIMO, had been living in Bern, in western Switzerland, since 1997, said Morisara Doumbia, a leader of a Liberian association in the city.

Mr. Kosiah was arrested on Nov. 10 in connection with accusations that he was involved in mass killings in parts of Liberia’s Lofa County from 1993 to 1995, when he was a commander of ULIMO, a faction that later split along ethnic lines.

Complaints had been filed against him by seven Liberians, represented by Alain Werner, director of Civitas Maxima, which has been working since 2012 with the Global Justice and Research Project in Liberia to document crimes committed during the wars. The seven witnesses are currently in Liberia. A pretrial investigation could take months.

Liberia’s back-to-back civil wars killed about 250,000 people. The fighting ended in August 2003, with the signing of a cease-fire agreement and President Charles Taylor’s departure into exile.

Mr. Doumbia contended that Mr. Kosiah’s forces did not commit major crimes and only defended themselves against Mr. Taylor’s forces. He called Mr. Kosiah “a well-disciplined commander.”

Mr. Kosiah’s arrest is the second of a Liberian in Europe in connection with accusations of atrocities committed during Liberia’s civil war. Martina Johnson, a commander of a heavy artillery unit of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia led by Mr. Taylor, was detained in Belgium in September.